The distribution and abundance of soil arthropods in the Northern Mojave desert

The importance of the biodiversity of soil biota in arid ecosystems

“…For example, the microarthropod community found in soils under creosote bush, Larrea tridentata, in the Mojave Desert in Nevada (Franco et al, 1979) was similar to that found in soils under creosote bush in the Chihuahuan Desert (Cepeda-Pizarro and Whitford, 1989), despite the large differences in average rainfall and seasonality of rainfall in these deserts. The average rainfall in the northern Chihuahuan Desert is 250 mm with 60% of that in the months of July-September and the average rainfall in the Mojave Desert is less than 100 mm mostly coming in the winter months November-March.…”

Seasonal and Spatial Variation in the Soil Microarthropod Fauna of the White Sands National Monument

“…The maximum density of 18,345 per m2 microarthropods is the highest for any hot desert and the range of variation exceeds both upper and lower population extremes reported by Franco et al (1979) for the northern Mojave deserts. The highest density was recorded in a water accumulation area under shrubs where litter also accumulates.…”

“…DISCUSSION.-The only mite found in all localities in the dunes, the nanorchestid Speleorchestes has been found in all North American hot deserts (Franco et al, 1979;Wallwork and Whitford, unpubl. data).…”

“…The few studies of desert soil faunas have been conducted in areas of stable soils (Wallwork, 1972;Santos et al, 1978;Franco et al, 1979). These studies indicated that prostigmatid mites dominate the soil fauna of North American hot deserts.…”

Harvester ant nests, soil biota and soil chemistry

“…Soil organisms tend to occur at high density in the rhizosphere and in the litter that accumulates under shrubs (Santos et al 1978;Franco et al 1979), whereas intershrub spaces are characterized by lower biological activity (Charley and West 1977). Decomposition of accumulated litter leads to high concentrations of mineral nutrients and nitrogen mineralization rates at shrub bases (Garcia- Moya and McKell 1970;Charley and West 1977).…”